Part of the reason why my folks - why any immigrant family - wants their kids to go into law or medicine is because there's the promise of reliable work. That's a powerful idea that got hammered into my head growing up: Be this thing, or else you'll starve.

Growing up as Chinese-American, as someone who experienced racism, questions of 'otherness' are always at the forefront of my mind.

I think that comic books have appealed to female readers for years.

If men disappeared tomorrow, we'd still be having the abortion debate. If men disappeared tomorrow, there would still be racism and conflicts over religion.

My history is pretty different from the history of most professors. I was a high school dropout. I dropped out and became a science fiction writer.

Science at its best is an open-minded method of inquiry, not a belief system.

If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.

The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.